Have Aid Agencies legitimized their existence through Food Aid? The case of Turkana District in Northern Kenya

There has been hue and cry over the need to increase food aid by the advocates of aid, especially to Sub-Saharan Africa and more specifically the Horn of African, which is currently (2011) experiencing its worst drought in over 60 years. Most aid agencies in Northern Kenya have been in operation for at least 50 years yet the people in these regions have been food insecure. This is made evident by the number of people who are annually in need of food aid. This notwithstanding the fact that, scores of people continue to succumb to hunger, malnutrition and starvation, while the region is dotted with food aid agencies. The research is an effort to bring to the fore the food insecurity challenges that the people living these regions face inspite numerous interventions by food aid agencies. This is achieved by assessing the reasons that justify the presence of aid agencies in the region, and how their continued existence affects the community‟s livelihoods. The research findings indicate that food aid as a form of intervention has failed to achieve its said benefits and instead pushed communities further away from achieving any form of food security. In order for communities to achieve food security the underlying structural problems need to be addressed by government institutions.